Chương 137: Day One Hundred And Thirty-Six

Dear Diary, Y'know that old saying about 'you'll have to get up way earlier in the morning to pull one over on me'? Yeah, I never thought that would be, like, literal practical life advice. Especially the add-on of 'better yet, stay up all night'. So late yesterday afternoon I went looking for Marie with the menace in tow. Found her down in the laundry mending a whole pile of uniforms. Still kind of amazed at her level of stitch-witchery.

Before I interrupted her, I watched her put a patch under a worn spot on the inner thigh of a pair of slacks. I mean, I get that they've obviously got swatches of the original cloth, and whatever laundry magic they pull off manages to keep stuff from fading, but somehow after she finished there just wasn't a worn spot. I couldn't even see the stitches. Just 'there used to be a thin spot, and now there's not'. Freaky. Anyway, when she set that pair down I called out, "Marie?"

She looked up, setting the slacks down and slipping her needles and thread into the pockets of her apron.

"Yes?"

"I'm gonna need you to watch Isnomi tonight and tomorrow." Before Marie could even open her mouth to reply, Isnomi clamped down on my arm and hollered, "NA! NA! Ma sa wa Mama! Key Mama say!" For the next minute or so Marie and I wrestled with the menace, trying to get her off of my arm without hurting her, while she screamed at the top of her lungs the whole time. Tears leaked from her eyes, splattering all over both of us as she shook her head. I held up a hand for Marie to stop.

I looked down at the limpet on my arm and said, "are you afraid I won't come back?" She didn't respond, just buried her face in my arm. I looked to Marie, "is anything you're doing critical to the war effort or keeping the Academy running?" She shrugged, "No."

"Okay then. Meet me at the Entrance in five minutes?" She paused, "Ten?" I nodded.

"Okay, ten then." I looked back to Isnomi, who still clung to me, sniffling, her face pressed into my shoulder.

"Menace?" She peeked up, still sniffling.

"You can come along, but once we get there you'll have to sit with Marie and be quiet. Can you do that?" She nodded, still choking down sobs. Either she'd gotten way better at putting on a show, or this hadn't been one.

"Promise?"

"Ah pomis." She nodded again as she said it, her stubborn little jaw setting as she did.

"Okay, then. We've got to go get changed. See you in ten minutes, Marie." With the extra few minutes, I walked up to our cell and spent the time putting Isnomi into a clean uniform, then using a touch of Divine Loki-magic to erase the accumulated grime from The Dress and her boots. Before we left, I stepped over to our shrine and just stood there, one hand against Saffron's midnight dress. Isnomi toddled over and hugged the boots while I did. I looked down and held out my arms.

"I miss her too, menace. Time to go make sure she's not disappointed in us when she gets home." We got to the Entrance to find Headmaster Miles speaking with the Guard. He looked up to see the three of us heading toward him and said, "it's a bit late to be heading out, don't you think, Cadet Diaz?" I hooked the thumb of the hand not carrying the Menace in the waist of The Dress.

"Councilwoman Diaz wants to be early to tomorrow's Council Meeting." He nodded.

"Very early. You realize the Meeting can't start until Wotansday?"

"Yep. Which starts at sundown." He nodded again.

"Will you need my support?" I stopped, surprised by his open offer, then shook my head, "I appreciate it, but I think it'd be better if I tried to wrangle things on my own. Don't get me wrong, I'd love any help you can give me, but you've got work to do here, right?" He made a throwing-away gesture.

"I could delegate. Send word if you need me." I nodded, saluted him, and said, "will do," before leading the others out the door. Once we stood outside, the sunset casting the shadow of the Academy halfway down the Boulevard, I took Marie's hand, pulled her forward, and stepped into the Council chambers. A big dude in a tailored suit stood in front of the lectern holding the Register.

I handed Isnomi off to Marie, who moved half a step behind and to my side as I walked up to the guy, looked up into his eyes, and said, "move." He shook his head, "Guild Master McCann told me to hold this spot for him." I smiled up at him.

"Guild Master McCann isn't here right now. I am." He snorted.

"Yeah, what, you're gonna beat me up if I don't move?" I shook my head, "I've been told I shouldn't threaten anybody. Overtly. So I'm gonna make one last try at being polite. Please move. You're in my spot." He placed one hand on the lectern.

"Boss gave me orders. I'm not gonna move unless you move me." I sighed, one arm akimbo, the other just kinda dangling against my bare thigh.

"Bribes aren't gonna work either, are they?" I swear, I hadn't really thought about The Dress that way for a while, but he glanced down, then back up at the top of my head.

"Nope. Boss would have my nuts in a sling." I swayed my way up to him, taking my hand off my hip and putting it against my bottom lip like I was thinking or some shit.

"Oh, but think about where they'd get to be before then." He glanced down again, groaned, then turned his back on me.

"Nope. Sorry, miss, but I've probably got a daughter your age." I stood on tiptoe and got as close behind him as I could without touching him, then breathed out, "Probably?" He shuddered and shrugged without looking at me.

"Her mom and I had a thing when we were younger. But her mom had a lot of things with a lot of guys. So, y'know, probably."

"Sounds more like maybe to me." He shook his head again, "sorry, miss. Just can't do it. No offense intended." I sighed and dropped back onto my heels.

"Well. Shit. Marie?"

"Yes."

"Can you hide a body his size?"

"Yes." Her answer, given in a completely matter-of-fact tone, pulled his head around. He looked past me, finally seeing her and recognizing her for what she was as he tipped his chin back to look her in the eyes.

"She's with you?" I shrugged.

"My daughter wanted to come along with me to the Council Meeting, and I needed a nanny to hold her so I can do all the Register stuff." He looked down at me after glancing even further up at Isnomi where she rode with one leg over each of Marie's shoulders, her head poking out to one side of Marie's.

"You'd kill a guy in front of your daughter?"

"Honestly? I was thinking of having her do it. She didn't promise her mom that she'd try not to kill anybody while she was gone." He chuckled, and I'm not sure what he saw next, but his eyes popped open and he took an involuntary half step back. I didn't look back at Isnomi or Marie, but I did hear that kinda distinct snicker-snack of her doing her shark-jaw thing. She might have spoiled it by giggling, but he took another half-step back, at which point I jumped into the gap between him and the Register.

"Thanks, sweetie." I turned, reached out, and got two armfuls of Menace glomping on me. When I turned back to the big guy, he'd stepped back to one of the closer seats.

"Not gonna try to move me?" He laughed, "McCann's gonna be pissed at me for moving, but he's not paying me enough to shove a Councilwoman." So we spent the rest of the night there, with me standing in front of the Register, the big guy, one 'Large Louis Teamster' by name, sitting on a bench directly in front of the lectern, and Marie alternating between standing next to me and sitting just shy of an arm's reach from Louis.

Isnomi spent most of the night orbiting the three of us; the little charmer even managed to coax him into holding her while she napped at one point. Right about when I saw the first hints of dawn through the roof above, I pointed to Louis and said, "Don't move," stepped to the Dining Hall long enough to grab an armful of black loaves, then stepped back to the Register's lectern.

I tossed him one of the still-warm loaves, tossed Marie another two, which she shoved into her apron pockets, since the Menace had fallen asleep glomped to the back of her head. I tore into the remaining ones, managing to finish the last one just as a big fuckin' guy in an expensive suit waddled into the room surrounded by another three big guys. He walked over to Louis, looked at me, then at Marie, then back to Louis, and shook his head.

"Louis?" He stood, clearly offering his seat to McCann.

"Sorry, sir. She conned me." I shrugged when McCann glanced my way.

"Maybe a mix of 'threatened' and 'tricked', really. Don't give him a hard time. I offered to bribe him and he turned me down." McCann snorted.

"With what I pay him? You can't afford enough to bribe him." I just gave him a 'really?' look, putting one hand on my bare hip to drive the point home. He looked back to Louis as he sat, saying, "at least I know who I can send to deal with Alexa if I need to." That got a short laugh out of everybody except Marie. Speaking of, he looked to her and frowned.

"What is she doing in a Councilperson's seat?" If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Before I could answer, she turned to him and set off all my 'oh shit' alarms at once. I bullshitted like somebody else's life depended on it.

"She's holding a spot for the Headmaster if he shows up." He nodded, "sounds fair. Just never seen a Maid out of the Academy before."

"You didn't see us wandering around on the Equinox?" He shook his head, "my family and I have a private ceremony. Well, open to the Teamsters, and a lot of them join us, but it's at my villa across the Schuylkill."

"Cool that you let your guys join you for that." He frowned at me.

"Not everybody has the money to hire a priest for themselves, or to get a seat at one of the big Temples." I laughed, "shit, you know that's right. I had one change of clothes and had lost my bag at the bottom of the river when I managed to get into the Academy." His face softened.

"You're from the Yards?" I shrugged.

"More or less. My parents both died when I was little, I slept wherever I could find a spot after that." He frowned, folding his arms across his expansive chest.

"Damn. I try to have my guys keep eyes out for kids like you. But some of you always fall through the cracks." I laughed, "you would not believe me if I told you how much not your fault I was. But if you want to make it up to me?" He looked at me, suddenly guarded, "yeah?"

"Tell me, what would it take for you to propose a declaration of war against New Amsterdam?" He barked out a laugh.

"I feel a little bad about your situation, but not bad enough to declare war with New Amsterdam, even if they're the ones responsible for it?" I shook my head again, "Nope. Also not what I asked you for. I just want to know what you'd need. Favors? Promises? Boons? Wild romp with a Maenad and Loki's Champion? Money?" I knew I'd misstepped when the laugh that started when I'd talked about romping shut down, hard.

"You think this is about money for me?"

"I dunno, man. That's what I'm asking. What is it about for you?" The incipient fury leaked out of his expression, but the deep anger remained.

"The guys you recruited. The ones that used to work for me. They're my people. Friends. Family. I look out for them. And you've gone and put them in harm's way." I raised my hands, palms out, shaking my head, "No, yeah, I get that. I agree with you, even. Thing is?" I waited for him to say, "yeah?"

"We didn't start this shit. I dunno how much you've heard, but New Amsterdam's got their Army out along the border, and their ships bottling us up at the mouth of the Delaware. Hell, they'd probably be pushing up the Delaware if we hadn't gotten word early from the fishermen."

"Yeah, another bunch of working stiffs you've drafted into this thing." I put my hands down, but resisted the urge to ball them into fists by putting my elbows behind me, leaning against the edge of the lectern.

"Yeah, no. They told me it wasn't safe for them to go fishing, because the 'Damn Navy was threatening them. I worked out a way for them to get paid enough to feed their kids while they couldn't fish. Fuck, most of them aren't even on the line; they're just ferrying supplies upriver." McCann grunted.

"You say that like you had a hand in it personally."

"Because I fuckin' did. Talk to Joseph Pesce. He might work for you, but he brought his daughter to me." He shook his head like a bull trying to shake off a fly.

"His daughter's alive."

"Fuckin' right she is." I dunno what he thought about that, but after a second he shook his head again, sighed, and said, "You don't get it. I don't think you can get it. How can I vote to put my boys and girls at the front in harms way?" I took a deep breath, let it out slowly through my nose. This dude wasn't trying to hurt anybody, he just had a little bit of completely understandable head-in-the-sand syndrome. Time to grab him by the ass and pull. I closed my eyes.

"My wife is out there with the Army. I don't have anybody else close like that. Just her, Marie, and Isnomi." I opened my eyes and, before he could say anything, continued.

"So yeah, I've got skin in this game. Maybe more than you, maybe not, but it's there. Thing is? New Amsterdam doesn't give a fuck how much we care about them. They'll kill them just as dead whether we've declared war or not. But so long as we haven't declared war? Your boys and girls? My wife? Our people? They're fighting with one hand tied behind their backs."

I watched that big bastard, who had to have at least two hundred pounds of muscle under the two hundred of fat wrapped around it, who surrounded himself with four big assed tough motherfucking dock workers in high priced suits. I saw the moment he broke, a tear sliding down the side of his nose before he snorted and blew it away.

"We end it as soon as they'll end it." I shook my head.

"We end it as soon as they'll agree not to start shit again the moment our backs are turned." When he looked up at that, I said, "Calverton's been looking like they're gonna start shit, and Alexa's Goddess' bed buddy's High Priest fucked off to there. Even if I were the bloodthirstiest bitch in the world, I'd still need to save soldiers for when that shit goes down."

"So you're gonna want me to support another war after this one? When the fuck will it end?" I shook my head again.

"No. I want to kick the 'Damn Army's ass so hard and so fast that Calverton City gets a sudden rush of brains to the head and backs the fuck off instead of starting shit." He sucked in a huge lungful of air. Before I could say anything else, he raised a hand and let it all out in one long, drawn out breath.

"Shit." I waited while he hashed it out in his own head. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed other Councilpersons filing in to seats. Almost nobody in the upper tiers where Heroes tended to sit. Maybe half of the ones I'd seen last week had already claimed seats lower down.

"You want me to call this when?"

"Soon as the Vincents and Alexa get here, you call for us to convene, then call for the vote. Let everybody else bicker about it after." A young tenor behind me laughed out loud at that.

"Holy shit, you want to rub Alexa's face in this enough to let her vote against it?" I turned to see Vincent the Elder settling into his seat, his bespectacled son paused halfway through doing so, still chuckling.

"Yeah, if only to drive home how her goddess' bitch boy husband ran off to Calverton instead of manning up and getting his ass on the line." Vincent frowned at that. At a guess, the head of the Guard's Guild had a War God as his patron, maybe even Ares himself. His son, on the other hand, wheezed out another laugh.

"Holy shit, I think I'd vote for war just for the mental image of you slapping the 'Damn Army around with those gigantic cajones of yours." A twitch of my leg toward him, and I stood within kissing distance of him, my face just far enough away I didn't deafen him when I said loud enough to carry, "that could be arranged." I stepped back before anyone could think about grabbing my spot by the Register. Vincent Senior looked thoughtful a moment while his son adjusted himself and took a seat.

When he spoke, his voice creaked through the room like he risked breaking down into coughing at any moment.

"So we lose a Priest of War to gain a Priestess of Tricksters?" And fishermen, remind him.

"The Boss says to remind you that he's a God of fishermen, too." More than one of the Council glanced around at that, like they half expected to see Loki hiding in a corner of the round room. One or two even clutched at their pockets, like they expected him to be working the seated crowd. I mean, not like he couldn't find a way to stand in the corner of a round room or pick the pocket somebody was sitting on, but, like, fuck, the weird things people who don't do shady shit think shady people do.

Nobody had anything to say about Loki's claiming the fishermen, so we sat there for a while, me leaning against the Register, Marie half-napping while seated upright, the other Councilpersons talking quietly, and Isnomi squirming down to toddle over to McCann and strike up a mostly-nonsensical conversation. After around a half an hour, Vincent the younger tapped on the far side of the lectern to get my attention.

"Councilwoman?" I flipped around to face him, leaning on the lectern, forgetting what that did to The Dress' already stupidly revealing cleavage until I watched him very deliberately winch his gaze back up to meet mine.

"Forgive me," he murmured, "I'd hoped to speak regarding a private matter, but it seems I find you too distracting to retain even the slightest amount of discretion." I rolled a shoulder in a half-shrug as I openly looked him up and down. He rocked the nerd look pretty solidly with the scribe's robes, permanent ink-stains on his hands, and the spectacles, but even with the robe I could tell he'd inherited at least a little of his dad's soldier-bod.

"Discretion's overrated. Come talk to me and the wife when the war's over." What? I'd gone two nights without sleep, one without the warm body I'd gotten really used to sleeping next to, and used up all of my social batteries on coaxing McCann's head out of his ass. He blinked owlishly behind his spectacles, his cheeks got the cutest shade of pink, and he stuttered, "I... ah... yes... ah... I'll be certain to do as you've advised, Speaker."

At that point, everybody in the room turned as the main doors crashed open, a tall, voluptuous blonde sashaying through them followed by half a dozen lackeys.

"Hello, everyone! I've arrived, so the party can begin!" Before she could say anything else, McCann stood and called out, "Councilperson Diaz, I move to convene this meeting of the Phileo City Council." Every hand in the room except those around Aphrodite's High Priestess shot up, a clear majority without bothering to count.

"You all in favor of that?" At the collected nods, as Alexa's mouth opened, I called out "majority's in favor, this Council is hereby Convened." I nodded to McCann, and again interrupting Aphrodite's bitch, he called out, "Speaker, based on their aggressive actions toward us, I propose a vote to officially declare war on New Amsterdam and Newark." I nodded, and before anybody could pull any bullshit, declared, "I call for a vote.

All in favor of declaring war on New Amsterdam and Newark until such time as they surrender or are willing to negotiate a formal peace wherein they will abstain from further aggressive actions for the immediate future, raise your hands." Most of the hands hadn't actually gone all the way down, but Alexa called out, "Speaker, I must protest! A vote on such an important topic demands a roll call vote!" I sucked at my teeth a moment, glancing around the room quickly.

Vincent Senior, who'd raised his own hand, gave me the tiniest of nods when I met his eyes.

"Fine. Let's get this over with." I started down the list of names, noting the ones that hadn't arrived as 'abstains', marking down each vote as it was cast. As I worked my way through the list, a sense of languid fatigue drifted across me. It didn't shock me that I'd be a little wonky after two nights without sleep, but I noticed even Vincent the younger nodding a little. I glanced at Alexa to see her sitting there, perky as could be, a sly smile stretching her lips.

"Marie? Come here a moment." She stood and walked the two steps it took her to reach my side.

"Marie, you're officially Loki's Councilwoman. Hold the lectern for me." She blinked, but put one hand on each of the upper corners of the lectern, her claws idly rapping against the center of it where she stretched them. I stalked over to stand in front of Alexa, who drew herself upright. Another wave of completely non-physical heat washed over me, and her smile turned sultry.

"Poor Tabitha. No one to comfort you, with your wife so very far away." I spun on my heel, my back to her a moment, and pointed at Vincent the younger.

"Vincent!" He jerked upright.

"Yes, Councilwoman?" I grinned at him, and some of Isnomi's shark grin might have come through. Some of Saffron's Grin as well.

"Do NOT forget what you agreed to, capice?"

"Of course not, Councilwoman."

"Call me Diaz." Before he could respond to that I spun back to Alexa. Or, rather, Aphrodite sock puppetting her High Priestess.

"You're absolutely right, it's been a whole twenty four hours since I last got to engage in some mutual virtue removal and ravaging. As you might imagine, I'm getting a little testy. Maybe even a little anxious? But y'know, before you and I make a whole big mess in the middle of the Council chamber, there's one really important question you should answer."

"Oh? And what's that?" she asked, leaning forward and arching enough that she suffered an immediate dual wardrobe malfunction. I leaned into her, my mouth right up against her ear, not giving a fuck about her hearing when I announced to the room, "did Ares run the fuck away before or after he saw Artemis' nose?" You could have heard a fucking pin drop in the silence that followed that. Everybody definitely heard the snapping hiss-crackle of a thin Mana Blade sliding out of my finger.

"You dare draw a weapon against me in these Council chambers!" For all the volume in her shriek, it just didn't have the same intensity as Artemis or Odin's. Besides, she'd taken exactly the bait I'd hoped she would. I pulled back, looked at my finger in mock confusion, then shook my head before stage-growling, "this? Oh, sweetie, the hottest thing Saffron ever did to me was with one of these." She leaned way the fuck back, horror filling her eyes, then draining away to leave them empty and faintly confused.

The pervasive impulse to fuck everything in sight drained away with her.

"I think I'm supposed to vote against the declaration of war?" I nodded to her, dispersing my Mana Blade and patting her gently on the cheek.

"Thank you, Councilwoman. I'll be sure to note that in the record." Other than twelve hours of really boring speeches? The rest of the Council Meeting went really smoothly after that, even the bits where Isnomi insisted on sitting atop the lectern. Wonder of wonders, nobody bitched about that, either. Maybe I'm getting the hang of this 'politics' thing?